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A Turbulent Affair

A Turbulent Affair by Sarah Doebereiner is a short F/F romance novel. I am open to reading almost all types of books, and I do believe this may have been my first F/F romance book I’ve ever read, it wasn’t too surprising and I thought that the writing was impeccible. The only issue I had with this book was that it wasn’t long enough to create a real story for me.

After Crystal’s best friend Sylvia breaks up with yet another boy, she runs to Crystal’s apartment for comfort and food, which is something that Sylvia typically does after yet another broken heart. Little does Sylvia know, but Crystal likes her as more than a best friend. She tries to keep her feelings to herself, she actually has their entire friendship, but it just seems like one after another, these guys keep hurting Sylvia. Crystal can’t stand to watch her amazing friend continue to get hurt.

The girls get to talking, and Crystal nonchalantly throws out the idea of the two girls getting together. Like having a real relationship. Sylvia thinks that it’s a joke, and Crystal goes along with it at first. Then the girls consider going out on a date together, just to see what it would all be like. Nervous and anxious, their date begins awkwardly, but eventually the awkwardness turns into comfortable conversation and laughing like friends. When dinner is over, Crystal asks if she can go up to Sylvia’s apartment with her, to which Sylvia declines and the conversation ends in disaster.

After that night, the girls get to talking and even plan a trip together. In my opinion, it feels like every time that they talk, Crystal wants more out of the relationship than Sylvia does. It seems like she is almost pressuring Sylvia into a relationship that she doesn’t really want to have. This actually made me a little bit uncomfortable while reading the book. If someone isn’t attracted to you, whether it’s a guy or a girl, continuing to hound them about it is really unattractive and actually very creepy.

The dynamic between these two women should have felt natural and exciting, but instead it felt forced and sort of gross. I feel that if the book had been longer, and the relationship had time to flow even more, then it would have made more sense. In the end, I felt that the book was filled with being pressured, uncomfortable talks, and not necessarily a turbulent affair. I give this book 2 out of 5 stars, and I hate to do that for someone who sent me a book, but it’s my honest opinion.